In 1939 Chicago, private eye Miles Palodon walks into a dark alley for a meeting only to see a flash in his face and feel the bullet enter his chest. The next thing he knows he’s 
sitting up and where a bullet should be, an arrow protrudes.
He loks over a battlefield full of dead bodies decked out in armor, weapons, swords, pikes, bows and arrows scattered about, the occasional horse wandering.
And a voice in his head saying “pull the arrow from our body or we’ll die.”
It is called the pairing and Miles had been pulled into a parallel universe into the body of his double. Close but not exact. His body is in better shape and when Miles looks into a mirror, he sees an unbroken nose.
Prince Palodon of Palandrum is his name and as the eldest child, he’s the heir to his father’s throne. Someone has tried to kill him, the battle long past, and the Prince suspects one of his siblings. His father, the King, is near death, some sort of wasting disease.
Miles, while sharing the body with the Prince, seems to be mostly in control.
He takes on the job of finding who wants the Prince dead, He’s a P.I. after all.
A nice mix of P.I. and fantasy with sorcerers, palace intrigues, beautiful women(this sort of tale never has even plain women), and sword play.
Had a fine time with this one from 1987. It’s set-up for a more conventional sequel, Miles looking for the man who shot him in the alley. Not sure if one was ever written. Finally, a number of fine black and white full page illustrations by Fernando da Silva fill out the book.
Todd Mason does the gathering today at SWEET FREEDOM.
Not The Baseball Pitcher 
I found a copy of this book while on vacation in Reno, NV. Tried reading it last month and quickly lost interest in it. I guess the fantasy part of it was way too familiar. I know Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee… is the inspiration for the plot but I kept thinking of THE COURT JESTER while reading it. That movie is much funnier than this book, IMO. Oh well, one man’s meat…